While condemning drugs, drug users, and popular rock culture, Nixon still found time to make Elvis Presley a special agent of the DEA. Yes, it's true.
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Transcripts by Common Sense for Drug Policy
May 13, 1971, between 10:30am and 12:30pm — Oval Office Conversation 498-5– meeting with Nixon, Haldeman and Ehrlichman
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RN: “And let’s look at the strong societies. The Russians. God damn it, they root them out, they don’t let them around at all. You know what I mean? I don’t know what they do with them. Now, we are allowing this in this country when we show [unintelligible]. Dope? Do you think the Russians allow dope? Hell no. Not if they can allow, not if they can catch it, they send them up. You see, homosexuality, dope, immorality in general: These are the enemies of strong societies. That’s why the Communists and the left-wingers are pushing the stuff, they’re trying to destroy us.”
[Later on in this conversation tape, Bob Haldeman left, and George Schultz entered with Chicago Mayor Richard Daley. The following is from that segment. The President and Daley are talking about how Chicago approaches drugs.]
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RN: “Well, let me tell you one thing that just happened here because it probably wasn’t, I’m sure it wasn’t in the press here, I had a press conference in California which was not televised, but, I was asked about marijuana because a study is being made by a, group, [unintelligible] the government. Now, my position is flat-out on that. I am against legalizing marijuana. Now I’m against legalizing marijuana because, I know all the arguments about, well, marijuana is no worse than whiskey, or etc. etc. etc. But the point is, once you cross that line, from the straight society to the drug society — marijuana, then speed, then it’s LSD, then it’s heroin, etc. then you’re done. But the main point is — well, well we conduct, well this commission will come up with a number of recommendations perhaps with regard to, [unintelligible] the penalties more, because [unintelligible] too far in this respect. As far as legalizing them is concerned, I think we’ve got to take a strong stand, one way or the other, and, uh.”
RD: “Against, uh.”
RN: “Against legalizing. That’s the position that I take. Because I think if we legalized it, take the, then, then, your high school and elementary kid, well why not? It [unintelligible].”
May 18, 1971, 12:16 pm – 12:35 pm — Oval Office Conversation No. 500-17 — The President met with Arthur G. (Art) Linkletter and DeVan L. Shumway; Oliver F. (“Ollie”) Atkins was present at the beginning of the meeting.
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AL: “And then of course, uh, um, I bear down mostly on marijuana because that’s the puberty rite today, and I really give them a lecture on marijuana. And you see, the big problem with marijuana–”
RN: “I was asked about marijuana –”
AL: “You should know this –”
RN: “– two weeks ago in, uh, California, the, what do you say about this, I said well, we’re going to have a commission report, I said, [unintelligible] can be very clear, whatever it says, I’m against legalizing.”
AL: “Absolutely.”
RN: “I said, now, as far as penalties are concerned, that’s something else, they should of course be uniform but we, I’m against legalizing, period. I think you’ve got to draw the line on the damn thing because–”
AL: “That’s right. That’s right.”
RN: “– they say, well, it’s the same with booze. Well, maybe booze is bad, but the point is that, uh, you can, uh, uh, maybe booze can lead to marijuana, can lead to, speed, or uh, or LSD, can lead to heroin, so forth. But, basically, I mean, uh, I know, uh, another way to look at it is this, if I may say so, with regard to, if you get to a, a little more sophisticated audience who really care about destiny, and if you uh, [unintelligible] history, has ever been destroyed by alcohol. An awful lot of nations have been destroyed by drugs.”
AL: “That’s right.”
RN: “Now, this doesn’t, this is no advocacy for alcoholics, good God, it’s a horrible problem–”
AL: “Terrible.”
RN: “And, uh, you and I and many mutual friends, and we can have, we um there but for the grace of God go I, all of us, you know. But, believe me, it is true, the thing about the drug, once people cross that line from the, from [unintelligible] straight society to the, the drug society, it’s uh, it’s a very great possibility they’re going to go further, it’s [unintelligible] — ”
AL: “That’s right.
RN: “I don’t know, I, I say don’t give up.”
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AL: “There’s a great difference between alcohol and marijuana.”
RN: “What is it?”
AL: “The worst that you can have when you’re in with other alcoholics is more to drink, so you’ll throw up more and get sicker and be drunker.”
RN: “And that also is a great, great incentive, uh–”
AL: “But when you are with druggers, the, you can go from marijuana to say heroin. Big difference.”
RN: “I see.”
AL: “If, if, if you’re with a guy who suggests you have three more drinks than you should have, you’re just going to get sicker. But if you’re with a guy who you’re already high and he suggests you try, this instead of this, you can go much further. Now, let me tell you one thing about marijuana you should know, that all of, the word marijuana should never be used until you say, what kind of marijuana.”
RN: “Oh.”
AL: “There is every grade. Now they say legalize marijuana or it isn’t bad. What marijuana isn’t bad? The mild stuff we grow in Wisconsin, or the stuff from Morocco? The twigs and the leaves, or the rosin? The kind of person who uses it, is he psychotically sound or unsound, is he [unintelligible]? All these things make a difference. So when you say marijuana, you’re saying [from one to twenty ?]. And you can never say marijuana, you’ve got to say: marijuana Acapulco, or marijuana from Mexico, or marijuana from Illinois. Three different things. And, what kind of a person is getting it, what kind of people is he with? I think that marijuana [unintelligible] all people with [unintelligible].”
RN: “[unintelligible]”
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AL: Yes. There’s a man, named Dr. Harvey House (?). Dr. House (?) is the chief clinical psychiatrist at the University of California in Berkeley. Five years ago, they asked him for the paper what he thought of marijuana, and he said, it’s a light hallucinogen, probably wouldn’t cause any harm to anybody. And this was played up. And he was worried because it was so played up. He spent five years studying. About two months ago he released his new story, and it can all be put in five words: pot smokers can’t think straight. Pot smokers can’t think straight. If you are a regular head and use it regularly, you are not using your priorities correctly. You are not judging what is most important. You have a kind of a will-less way of thinking. And he described it, [unintelligible], as guys walking along a meadow, and have the same appearance, but some parts were boggy and quicksandy and some were firm, and that’s the kind of thinking that pot smokers have, they, they, and, and when people like that say these things you can’t tell me that this guy Brown, from your NIMH who was quoted this morning as saying that, uh, marijuana is really nothing and perhaps should be, uh, should be given the same penalty as a parking ticket. Good night!”
RN: “Now did you see this statement by Brown, the National Institute of Mental Health this morning? Uh, he should be out. I mean, today, today. If he’s a presidential appointee [unintelligible] do is fire the son of a bitch, and I mean today! Get the son of a bitch out of here. Don’t know whether he’s, probably just a [unintelligible] but he’s going to be out.”
AL: “Good. That’s a terrible thing for a guy in his position to say. A parking ticket would be the equivalent, he was quoted as saying. Because, uh, because, uh, marijuana is insidious. It can be harmless, and nothing, and it can be terrible.”
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RN: “I know. Well, you know I suppose they could say that, alcoholics don’t think straight too, can’t they?”
AL: “Yes. [unintelligible] Really. But, but another big difference between marijuana and alcohol is that when people s- smoke marijuana, they smoke it to get high. In every case, when most people drink, they drink to be sociable. You don’t see people –”
RN: “That’s right, that’s right.”
AL: “They sit down with a marijuana cigarette to get high –”
RN: “A person does not drink to get drunk.”
AL: “That’s right.”
RN: “A person drinks to have fun.”
AL: “I’d say smoke marijuana, you smoke marijuana to get high.”
RN: “Smoke marijuana, er, uh, you want to get a charge –”
AL: “Right now –”
RN: “– of some sort, you want to get a charge, and float, and this and that and the other thing.”
May 26, 1971, Time: 10:03 am – 11:35 am — Oval Office Conversation: 505-4 — Meeting with Nixon and HR ‘Bob’ Haldeman
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RN: “Now, this is one thing I want. I want a Goddamn strong statement on marijuana. Can I get that out of this sonofabitching, uh, Domestic Council?”
HRH: “Sure.”
RN: “I mean one on marijuana that just tears the ass out of them. I see another thing in the news summary this morning about it. You know it’s a funny thing, every one of the bastards that are out for legalizing marijuana is Jewish. What the Christ is the matter with the Jews, Bob, what is the matter with them? I suppose it’s because most of them are psychiatrists, you know, there’s so many, all the greatest psychiatrists are Jewish. By God we are going to hit the marijuana thing, and I want to hit it right square in the puss, I want to find a way of putting more on that. More [ unintelligible ] work with somebody else with this.”
HRH: “Mm hmm, yep.”
RN: “I want to hit it, against legalizing and all that sort of thing.”
June 17, 1971 – Nixon declares War on Drugs and calls drugs “Public Enemy Number One” at a press conference
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RN: ”I am glad that in this administration we have increased the amount of money for handling the problem of dangerous drugs seven-fold; it will be $600 million dollars this year. More money will be needed in the future. I want to say, however, that despite our budget problems, to the extent that money can help in meeting the problems of dangerous drugs, it will be available. This is one area where we cannot have budget cuts. Because we must wage what I have called total war against Public Enemy Number One in the United States – the problem of dangerous drugs.’
September 9, 1971, 3:03 pm – 3:34 pm — Oval Office Conversation No. 568-4 — The President met with Raymond P. Shafer, Jerome H. Jaffe, and Egil G. (“Bud”) Krogh, Jr.; the White House photographer was present at the beginning of the meeting.
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RN: “When will the marijuana one come out?”
RPS: “The marijuana will come out in March ’72. In other words we are coming into the final phases of it now, we’ve had all of our public hearings. We have not, we have nine more informal hearings.”
RN: “You’ve had all your public hearings already?”
RPS: “All of the public hearings, yes, and, uh, we’ve had, had, have had several informal hearings, we have nine more of those including one at, at federal college (?), Monday.”
RN: “Here.”
RPS: “Right here in Washington, [unintelligible].”
RN: “Hard to find anybody who isn’t on the stuff?”
RPS: “Uh, no. [unintelligible] Over 75 percent of the [unintelligible] are white, and, uh, and under 18, almost 85 percent, which I [unintelligible].”
RN: “It’s now becoming a white problem.”
[EDIT]
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RN: “What you have here is a very interesting live situation, where there is a certain [unintelligible] through the country, that, heh, on the one hand want to make smoking illegal, cigarette smoking illegal and marijuana legal. Now, that’s what I mean, that doesn’t make any damned sense now. I mean, probably if we repeat what that didn’t help its best aspects everything shouldn’t do anything shouldn’t need it, but uh, you know if they’re going to [unintelligible]. On the marijuana thing, I have very strong feelings that that’s, uh the, best final, uh, analysis, that once you start down that road, uh, the chances of going further down that road are greater. I’m aware some disagree with that, but uh, the uh, and also we have some people that are, frankly promoting it. They’re not good people. The whole marijuana, uh–”
[EDIT]
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RPS: “And insofar as legalization, I think the thing that has caused us the greatest problem was your statement in San Clemente — which is a part of your strong convictions, naturally you expressed them as you felt them. But you used the word legalization, and, the way I answered it was, Look, we’re a national commission, we’re going to take a look at the whole picture, we know that the president is interested in what we’re doing, is concerned about the problem, and, uh, we’ve never had a chance to discuss what he means by legalization. If he means, uh, removing all controls, or if [unintelligible] simple possession, these are things that can be worked out at a later date. We’re going ahead and make our studies, and I know that he is wholeheartedly behind us because of everything that he has done. That does not mean that he’s going to agree with everything which we say, but, that he knows that these are men of, uh, integrity, men and women of integrity who wanted to do something for their country.”
RN: “Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.”
RPS: “Now, what, what happened on this when this statement was made, several members of the commission called up and said, well we may as well, give up. I said No, that isn’t right, the President has his own, uh, convictions on this and he isn’t going to tell the Commission what to say or what not to say.”
RN: “Come out with a different view.”
RPS: “Well certainly, you know we [unintelligible, both RPS and RN talk at once]
RPS: “Well, yes, but sure, the point is, that, I mean, say what they say, what the Commission is doing is, is, is following [unintelligible], and in fact, the, the confidential report that I had prepared to give you to Bud so that you, you’ve maybe even seen it–”
RN: “Yeah.”
RPS: “–gives clearly the direction that we’re going, and I think that that should relieve your mind, uh, uh, insofar as your personal convictions or so. We don’t want you to say, Well I’ve got a great commission, anything they say we’ll follow; well of course not, that’s ridiculous.”
RN: “No, no. [unintelligible], to look at it.”
[EDIT]
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RPS: “We want to de-mythologize marijuana so that the kids aren’t going out experimenting with it because they think it’s great stuff. And uh, [unintelligible RPS and others talking at once]. I think, I think that we’ve gone into this thing as, uh deeply as, as uh, any commission could. [unintelligible], I’m, I’m having a great time learning, and, uh, we, we have individuals, but what we need from you is your, uh, public support, as a commission, not from the standpoint that you’re going to accept what we say but that here is a commission that is working on a problem that cuts across the cross-section of every, uh, family in, in the nation, next, next to your economy, and incidentally I think that what you’ve done in that regard is excellent.”
RN: “No, we’re –”
RPS: “But what we–”
RN: “Yeah, yeah, this, this, you’re right, it’s terribly important.”
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RPS: “Next to the economy, and also the winding down of the war which I don’t think will be a particular issue next year and I think you agree with me there. I think the problems of drug abuse will be a political issue. And, while our report isn’t going to give you a platform, , but it can be a source of possible embarrassment and that’s why I don’t want to have, give any ammunition to the, those who would like to use it against you.”
EK: “So far you’re staying away from any possible endorsement of legalization of marijuana.”
RPS: “Absolutely, absolutely.”
March 21, 1972, 1:00 pm – 2:15 pm — Oval Office Conversation No. 690-11 — in this segment, the President is meeting with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.
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RN: “I saw, for example, [unintelligible] on a pamphlet they’re giving out on drugs. And, uh, presentation, [unintelligible], shows, which of course I would, [unintelligible], but where, uh, [unintelligible], they, they put in as a quote from the President on the front of the pamphlet with a picture, and a good strong picture and the rest, that said that, that the problem of drugs is our number one and must be dealt with in a variety of ways.”
HRH: “Eh.”
RN: “When I saw variety of ways I god damned near puked. And I thought, for pity’s sake, we need, and I use the word all out war, or all fronts, or, uh, uh, despicable, or, this in a variety of ways just pissed off [unintellig ible]. It’s typical, Bob, of what we get out of that shop over there.”
HRH: “Even if you want to make that overall [unintelligible]–”
RN: “You can’t say that–”
HRH: “You’ve got to, you’ve got to attack it, attack from every direction.”
RN: “–have to attack on all fronts.”
HRH: “On all fronts, yeah.”
RN: “Yeah.”
HRH: “You’ve got to attack the problem of the addict, the problem of the pusher, the problem of the, [unintelligible], victim. Yeah, boy you can sure, uh, water it down and then it –”
RN: “Variety of ways. Well now [unintelligible], except that, there are several ways.”
HRH: “Well what that means though is that we can’t really handle it.”
RN: “That’s right.”
HRH: “And that’s a, that’s a brush-off –”
RN: “It’s a cop out.”
HRH: “– it’s not like appointing a commission.”
RN: “A cop-out.”
HRH: “But handle it in a variety of ways really says we don’t know how to handle it. Which may be the truth. But it sure as hell isn’t the thing to say.”
RN: “Well. Here’s the thing to say, there’s ways to handle it, just, just kick the hell out of it. We enforce the law–”
HRH: “The way to talk, the thing to talk about, [unintelligible] all the Jaffe crap is not the stuff to talk about. I mean– ”
RN: “That’s what they hit me with [unintelligible]. Remember what I said.”
HRH: “I know.”
RN: “You got to kick [unintelligible] when I got out there and I didn’t do it. I, but what gets, who cares about the Jaffe stuff, the treating of the addicts.”
HRH: “The mothers don’t, because their kids aren’t addicts. And they’re, eh, you just don’t worry about that, what you worry about is this son of a bitch that’s going to come up –”
RN: “That’s right.”
HRH: “– and try to slip a packet of marijuana to your kid.”
RN: “Or, heroin.”
HRH: “Or heroin.”
RN: “Give them a fix. Or LSD, or something–”
HRH: “Or LSD, or slip something in his Coca-Cola.”
RN: “Yeah. Right.”
HRH: “That’s what you worry about, you’re not worried about addicts. Nobody knows an addict, but everybody knows a kid who’s been smoking marijuana.”
RN: “Bob, the truth’s, people are not concerned about anybody but themselves.”
HRH: “Exactly.”
RN: “They’re not concerned about the other kids whose, uh–”
HRH: “Well kids aren’t addicts anyway, I mean nobody, there aren’t enough addicts, addicted kids, to matter.”
March 24, 1972, 3:02 pm – 3:39 pm — Oval Office Conversation No. 693-1 — press conference
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Unknown reporter: “Mr. President, uh, do you have a comment sir on the, uh, recommendation of your commission on drugs that the use of marijuana in the home be, uh, no longer, uh, considered a crime?”
RN: “Um, I met with Mr. Shafer, uh, I’ve read the report, uh, eh, it is a report that deserves consideration and will receive it. However, as to one aspect of the report I am in disagreement. I was before I read it and reading it did not change my mind. Uh, I, uh, oppose the legalization of marijuana, and that includes the sale, its possession, and its use. I do not believe you can have effective criminal justice, uh, based on the philosophy, uh that something is half legal and half illegal. That is my position, despite what the commission has recommended.”
Contact your elected representatives and urge them to 'Stop Arresting Marijuana Smokers'. 
[...] Nixon, true to his ‘law-and-order’ roots, shelved the report and its recommendations — announcing instead, “We need, and I use the word [...]
[...] [...]
Wow I don’t even know how to reply to some of this ignorant crap. What was his IQ under 50??? Seriously of all the intelligent people in our country they elected this guy? Why are we not electing smart people like scientists and inventors to lead our country instead of these absolutely incompetent and corrupt assholes. I think before you can run for office they need to give you a test of some king to stop these idiots from getting in office.
I remember Nixon. The only good thing that I can recall he did was to end the military draft.
Wow, why does the Republican party keep putting up these retards as leaders? Nixon seriously sounds like he’s got a screw loose in his head. I’m so glad I can’t remember this clown. But I do remember one bozo after another being pushed into leadership positions within the Republican party. Anyone remember Dan Qualye? George W. Bush? Neither could speak with sounding like a mental midget…. :( Don’t forget, ketchup is a vegetable; pollution is good for us and it doesn’t cause cancer and really it’s more like fertilizer, but these clowns want to “protect” us from marijuana. Are these people mental, or just native born self-haters? Hate wealth, health and your neighbors? Vote Republican.
[...] Nixon, true to his ‘law-and-order’ roots, shelved the report and its recommendations — announcing instead, “We need, and I use [...]
[...] Nixon, true to his ‘law-and-order’ roots, shelved the report and its recommendations — announcing instead, “We need, and I use the word [...]
[...] to enact a rational pot policy. They were provided with the truth about cannabis, but they refused to listen. It is time for the Obama administration to listen — and to act. It is time to make peace with [...]
[...] Nixon, true to his ‘law-and-order’ roots, shelved the report and its recommendations — announcing instead, “We need, and I use [...]
[...] Nixon, true to his ‘law-and-order’ roots, shelved the report and its recommendations — announcing instead, “We need, and I use [...]
My son who is 19 is facing a second offense violation for cannabis use. He went into rehab and tried N/A. He stayed off cannabis for six months failed a drug screen and now is facing more jail time. He only had enough in his possession for one joint when he got his first violation. The second violation was a dirty drug screen for cannabis. I have watched my vibrant, healthy full of dreams son turn into a depressed, stressed young man who now suffers migraine headaches over this, not to even mention the $2200.00 dollars in fines he has to pay.I have hired an attorney…this I am so angry over…the system has stolen his life….the attorney thinks he may do more time. What an injustice….I am ready to pack up my family and leave the States. Why not focus on the true criminals. He is a kid for God’s sake who smoked a joint! Not to mention this is permanently on his record…criminal record…come on people…..You get a D.U.I. you get a slap on the wrist…you beat your wife your off in thirty day’s, molest a child maybe nine months. The system is out dated…Of course we live in the Bible Belt….Baptist Valley Tennessee. We need change so badly. All these public servants sure love their cocktails though now don’t they..scotch and bourbons and wine and HYPOCRITES! Any advice would be Greatly Appreciated….as I am at wits end. His court date s Monday and we are going to try to get this continued for another court date.
[...] Nixon, true to his ‘law-and-order’ roots, shelved the report and its recommendations — announcing instead, “We need, and I use [...]
[...] marijuana, as well as a recommendation to officially recognize its medical value. President Nixon violently opposed these recommendations, threw the report in the trash, and started his "War on Drugs". [...]
[...] Nixon, true to his ‘law-and-order’ roots, shelved the report and its recommendations — announcing instead, “We need, and I use [...]
[...] Nixon, true to his ‘law-and-order’ roots, shelved the report and its recommendations — announcing instead, “We need, and I use [...]
[...] Nixon, true to his ‘law-and-order’ roots, shelved the report and its recommendations — announcing instead, “We need, and I use [...]
Nixon was a piece of shit.
On June 17, 1971, President Nixon told Congress that “if we cannot destroy the drug menace in America, then it will surely destroy us.” After forty years of trying to destroy “the drug menace in America” we still *haven’t* been able to destroy it and it still *hasn’t* destroyed us. Four decades is long enough to realize that on this important issue, President Nixon was wrong! All actions taken as a result of his invalid and paranoid assumptions (e.g. the federal marijuana prohibition) should be ended immediately!
It makes no sense for taxpayers to fund the federal marijuana prohibition when it *doesn’t* prevent people from using marijuana and it *does* make criminals incredibly wealthy and incite the Mexican drug cartels to murder thousands of people every year.
We need legal adult marijuana sales in supermarkets, gas stations and pharmacies for exactly the same reason that we need legal alcohol and tobacco sales – to keep unscrupulous black-market criminals out of our neighborhoods and away from our children. Marijuana must be made legal to sell to adults everywhere that alcohol and tobacco are sold.
“There’s something extraordinarily perverse when we’re so concerned about preventing addicts from having access to drugs that we destroy the lives of many times more people, either through untreated pain or other drug war damage”.
Is it just me, or does it really sound like Nixon has been doing some drugs of his own? Maybe some speed or something? He can’t seem to ever get his sentences straight or make his mind up abut what he wants to say…
[...] full post on The NORML Stash Blog Find a [...]
[...] with some help from transcripts provided by Common Sense for Drug Policy. Visit http://stash.norml.org/nixontapes to read and hear the rest of our audio chronology of the War on Drugs and the Shafer Report that [...]
[...] will fucking enrage you. 40 Years Ago: The Beginning of Nixon’s Drug War in His Own Words | The NORML Stash Blog This is a quote from Richard Nixon on why we need to make marijuana illegal: “And [...]
This might not be the time or the place, but to be fair to Tricky Dick, he did have a problem with really dangerous drugs in the mid to late sixties. There were something like half a million heroin addicts in New York alone. He turned that around, though – really. By taking a big risk and trying methadone they got the problem under control.
This was a big, big bonus to poor old Dicky at the time. He wasn’t getting a whole hell of a lot of success anywhere else. Damn hippies making him lose Vietnam! Some damn journalists – Jews, no doubt (“You know it’s a funny thing, every one of the bastards that are out for legalizing marijuana is Jewish.”) – Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein for Chrissakes – trying to make people think he was a crook!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Bernstein:
“In his 1989 memoir Loyalties, Bernstein revealed that his parents had been members of the Communist Party, which shocked some because even J. Edgar Hoover had tried and been unable to prove that Bernstein’s parents were party members.[2] Bernstein’s parents were allegedly persecuted during the 1950s. The FBI conducted surveillance on his family over a 30 year period producing over 2,500 pages of documents, including notes taken by agents staking out his bar mitzvah.[3]“
So here’s this wonderful rush of irrefutable success with drugs which was really down to him. Oh, what a mind blast! How could you blame the poor guy for doing whatever he could to stretch that success to cover just about anydamnthing. “Get that goddamn success over here, dammit, and get it over those hippies’ asses! Tell ‘em we nuke their old-fashioned, hippy-faggot, commie ideas with our good, old-fashioned primal urges and need to control – HA – a pox and a war on them – a War on Drugs! Sonsabitches, thinking they could dodge the draft… Well, dodge this one you long-haired, pot-smoking, pinko faggots: the dope that turns you into pussies is going to be crushed by the war machine you pretend to hate until you’re climbing over each other to get your hands on an M-16 and waste some commie asses like true Americans!
“Write this down, Shafer, dammit: I want a report saying the hippies’ cohesion is a result of smoking pot. I want them to be shown to be communist infiltrators [infiltrator=terrorist] so that I can perpetuate some goddamn illusion or something. Tell ‘em were going to throw ‘em in jail for fucking life if they smoke pot. Yeah, that’ll fucking shut ‘em up and grow hair on their chests. Tell ‘em we’re going to war on their pussifying pot and they’re going to turn into true Americans, or they’re going to jail for a long, long time.” It worked. There’s been no real organized opposition to dysfunction capitalism in America since then.
So, don’t believe every word you’re told about the War on Drugs being a complete failure. In some ways it’s been most successful, indeed. And don’t forget the real winners so far – the innovations of future presidencies – e.g. the pharmaceutical companies and the incarceration industry, not to mention the trillion-dollar interdiction bureaucracies. The War on Drugs has most certainly not been lost for them (yet). Yes, capitalism, floundering though it may be, is still afloat, in no small part, thanks to the War. They themselves admit only drug money cash saved the banks in 2008.
The poor guy had a lot on his mind. It’s a tough job. And, really, he did get America’s real 60?s problem with narcotics under control. OK, so he kind of lost track of the script and got mixed up about some pretty basic things. like how you define a crook, and what the difference between cannabis and opiates is (He probably didn’t even know the difference between hemp, cannabis and marijuana, for Chrissakes!) and LSD and amphetamines, etc., and maybe he even lost track of the difference between right and wrong sometimes, but he kept capitalism afloat if it was somehow in some danger of somehow being sunk by commie hippies, didn’t he? That’s good, isn’t it?
So, don’t be too hard on old Tricky Dick, America. Difficult though it may be to come to terms with, whatever you may think of his other deeds and words, his actions played their role in assuring the perpetuation of the political and economic circumstances which have enabled the American people to enjoy a standard of living far in excess of what they would have enjoyed had they been living within their means in the real world and the US consequently had no budget deficit. You probably think Reagan and Bush have done more to be thanked for, but don’t forget where the idea came from in the first place. He himself may not have understood exactly what he was doing or what the consequences of his actions might be, but it was old Tricky Dick who kicked off and saved America from communism.
Maybe it’s not so much people, like presidents, that are important, but the processes which are being carried out by events?
This is crazy wish i had a say in some of those recordings… SIDE NOTE…
i might not beable to help so much with cash but would really like to help promoting around my area any suggestions??
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So, our society in general has admitted that Nixon’s point of view on the drug war is wrong in every respect and yet the laws that his administration created are still in effect. Enough is enough. End this stupidity and let law enforcement go after real criminals instead of those who prefer cannabis over some legal drugs that are proven to be worse for the user.